Overview
“The 12 labors of the internet user” is an interactive Flash presentation that parallels twelve tasks faced by internet users with the twelve heroic labors of the mythical Greek hero Hercules. Each screen asks the user to consider how common internet tasks, such as contributing to a Wikipedia article or navigating around intrusive digital advertisements, can humorously and oddly parallel Hercules’ years spent subservient to King Eurystheus.
Textual Elements
The piece can be experienced in a French or English format
Reflects the original author’s background and the multiplicity of people who worked on the project
Appears to be same presentation regardless of language
Begins with a short video
Creates parallelism between Hercules’ twelve labors and twelve tasks faced by internet users
Music is initially triumphant and regal
Once the video completes, any solemnity goes away and we’re left with a late 90’s rave replacement
Almost oppressive at times
Most of the music in the piece wouldn’t be out of place in The Matrix
This idea is reinforced by the “falling code” each time we accept a task
Once the video is complete, we’re given the option of “logging in” to access the rest of the experience
Accompanying this login screen is a blurry outline of a marble statue
Visual reminder that our task is meant to be seen as “heroic”
This connects to the authorial note (discussed in the final section).
Once logged in, we immediately have the option of accessing each “task”
Each task is given three parameters:
Number (example: 1/12)
Mythological Place (Arcadia, Hell)
Difficulty (1/5)
Reader agency – we have the option of returning to the homescreen/choosing the order to complete tasks
Each task metaphorically connects an element/purpose of Hercules labor to our own internet usage (this detailed layout comes from an author’s overview – PDF link on Wiki):
Log onto the Internet (NEMEAN LION)
Close all the popups (LERNAEAN HYDRA)
Be the most skillful in an online game (CERYNEIAN DEER)
Browse through a hypertextual maze (ERYMANTHEAN BOAR)
Clean the spam (AUGEAN STABLES)
Drive away the advertising banners (STYMPHALIAN BIRDS)
Eradicate a virus (CRETAN BULL)
Neutralize cookies (HORSES OF DIOMEDES)
Find specific information on the Internet (BELT OF HIPPOLYTE)
Neutralize someone who harasses him under three different profiles on a social networking website (CATTLE OF GERYON)
Participate in wikipedia and provide the fruits of knowledge (APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES)
Bring back web pages which are no longer accessible (CERBERUS)
Each screen offers an element of interactivity and play as we complete it
Example – the first screen asks us to solve a login problem; when we discover an unplugged Ethernet cord, the task is to click-and-drag the cord back to its port to “solve” the problem.
Completing every task reveals… ?
Was anyone able to finish it?
Digital Textual Elements
Flash Animation
Hypertext Processor (PHP)
Reader Agency - interactive elements in each area
MySQL (I had no idea what this was until researching it)
An open-source relational database management system
Question – how does this piece use this system?
Multimodality
Image/text/sound - all designed to specifically enhance the central struggle, and humor, of living in the internet age
Analysis/Interpretation
“The 12 labors of the internet user” contorts the perceived normality of internet use into a complicated statement that exposes its triviality. It is worth mentioning that the piece does not quite stoop to condemning computer usage or modern technology; through the Greek myth comparisons, it brings us to confront how we have a role in creating the monsters we slay. Hercules was condemned by an Oracle to serve a King for 12 years because he killed his family; perhaps we too are condemned to complete tasks through distorting or forgetting some element of our identity.
In an authorial note, the piece’s author (Serge Bouchardon) offers a suggestion about the piece’s meaning: “This work draws upon the mythology of everyday life. It does not consist in showing the tragedy of existence, but in transforming our daily activities into a myth. It is consequently a question of experiencing technology in an epic - but also humoristic - mode...” (“An online artistic game: the 12 Labors of the Internet User”). However, despite the piece’s playful interactivity and that its nearly a decade old, reflecting on the piece’s cultural climate of production against modern technology makes his statement a bit hollow. Our internet usage, and the technologies we use to access it, have dramatically shifted since he created the piece. iPhones were barely a year old, and their widespread adoption had yet to fully take place. As a result, the statement clashes with our modern sensibilities, leaving us to wonder: since we live in an era where statues have left their foundations, perhaps we’re all embodied, walking, and sadly distorted representations of Wittgenstein’s concept of the double. Since everyone is a mythological hero, no one is.
“The 12 labors of the internet user” is an interactive Flash presentation that parallels twelve tasks faced by internet users with the twelve heroic labors of the mythical Greek hero Hercules. Each screen asks the user to consider how common internet tasks, such as contributing to a Wikipedia article or navigating around intrusive digital advertisements, can humorously and oddly parallel Hercules’ years spent subservient to King Eurystheus.
Textual Elements
Digital Textual Elements
Analysis/Interpretation
“The 12 labors of the internet user” contorts the perceived normality of internet use into a complicated statement that exposes its triviality. It is worth mentioning that the piece does not quite stoop to condemning computer usage or modern technology; through the Greek myth comparisons, it brings us to confront how we have a role in creating the monsters we slay. Hercules was condemned by an Oracle to serve a King for 12 years because he killed his family; perhaps we too are condemned to complete tasks through distorting or forgetting some element of our identity.
In an authorial note, the piece’s author (Serge Bouchardon) offers a suggestion about the piece’s meaning: “This work draws upon the mythology of everyday life. It does not consist in showing the tragedy of existence, but in transforming our daily activities into a myth. It is consequently a question of experiencing technology in an epic - but also humoristic - mode...” (“An online artistic game: the 12 Labors of the Internet User”). However, despite the piece’s playful interactivity and that its nearly a decade old, reflecting on the piece’s cultural climate of production against modern technology makes his statement a bit hollow. Our internet usage, and the technologies we use to access it, have dramatically shifted since he created the piece. iPhones were barely a year old, and their widespread adoption had yet to fully take place. As a result, the statement clashes with our modern sensibilities, leaving us to wonder: since we live in an era where statues have left their foundations, perhaps we’re all embodied, walking, and sadly distorted representations of Wittgenstein’s concept of the double. Since everyone is a mythological hero, no one is.